Tongariro National Park is home to approximately 60 different bird species, many of which are endemic to New Zealand. While many are found throughout the country, others only live in the North Island. Several rare species that are listed as endangered also live within the Tongariro habitat.
The park's numerous freshwater streams and riverbeds attract several water bird species such as blue duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos), New Zealand scaup (Aythya novaeseelandiae), Pacific black duck (Anas superciliosa), grey teal (Anas gracilis), the New Zealand dabchick (Poliocephalus rufopectus) as well as the double banded plover (Charadrius bicinctus).
The podocarp forest in the northern and western parts of Tongariro offer lots of shelter for smaller birds. Primarily, they are insectivores and herbivores and are common with subspecies throughout entire New Zealand: Pipit (Anthus novaeseelandiae), Northern tomtit (Petroica macrocephala toitoi), Northern robin (Petroica longipes), tui (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae), grey warbler (Gerygone igata), rifleman (Acanthisitta chloris), bellbird (Anthornis melanura), Northern fantail (Rhipidura fuliginosa placabilis), wood pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae), North Island fernbird (Bowdleria punctata vealeae), whitehead (Mohoua albicilla), morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae), silvereye (Zosterops lateralis) and the shining cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus).
Tongariro is also home to several rare and/or threatened bird species:
Kaka (Nestor meridionalis), native falcon (Falco novaseelandiae), the famous North Island brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli), yellow-crowned (Cyanoramphus auriceps) and red-crowned parakeet (Cyanoramphus novaezelandiae).
Two species of New Zealand's only native mainland mammal are found in Tongariro as well, the short- and long-tailed bats. The short-tailed (Mystacina tuberculata rhyacobia) is a geographical subspecies of the Mystacinidae family. The long-tailed bat (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) is found on both North and South Island.